Algiers school staff changes set for today placed on hold as charter board plans a new meeting

Controversial personnel changes would have been imposed today as part of a revamping of the Algiers Charter Schools Association, but on a morning after a tumultuous board meeting on that subject, a spokesman for the group issued a statement confirming the schools are putting the changes on hold. He said the decisions will be postponed until a newly called board meeting on Tuesday, the details of which will likely be announced Monday.

Mark Waller/The Times-PicayuneConsultant Aamir Raza, who serves as the focal point of a controversial push to revamp the Algiers Charter Schools Association and dismiss or rearrange administrators, watched from the side of the room Thursday as protestors panned the plan during a board of trustees meeting.

"At the ACSA board meeting last night, the board decided to further consider parent concerns and will meet with management and leadership to further discuss the reported personnel changes that were supposed to take effect June 29," wrote spokesman David Jackson. "To that end, NO principal and central office personnel changes will take effect today. The board will present its decisions at a special meeting Tuesday, July 3."

At least 300 people packed the ACSA board of trustees meeting until late Thursday, staging a rancorous protest of plans to lay off employees and rearrange principals in the group's eight campuses. The architect of the moves, consultant Aamir Raza, was the target of fierce criticism as he watched the meeting from the side of the room.

An Algiers board member, Mark McNamara, defended the changes as urgently needed in a school cluster that he described as floundering academically. Critics argued the changes amounted to disruptions of some of the schools' strongest aspects, especially a plan to move principals in the network's highest rated schools to its lowest performing sites.

Another board member, John Edwards, announced at the end of the meeting that the board heard the complaints, that the personnel changes would stop and that the board would hold another meeting on Tuesday. The board did not have any formal votes scheduled on the overhaul Thursday but opened the microphone for audience members to comment on it, leading it to hear from a procession of adamant opponents.